Pictures requested by popular demand of planes in Groom and the NTS

reply to post by gariac


Yeah I've seen it before. When we were in Qatar during a deployment, we found a place that would make any picture you had into a patch. You can find places like that that will make them. My mom has this expensive embroidery machine. I bet she could make one. We made all kinds of patches. I'll download some of mine if I don't work tonight.

reply to post by Junkheap


I'll give you a hint, you've seen it before, just not like this! lol

Just a heads up I started a questions and answers thread in the RATS area. Any questions about being a boom operator or locomotive engineer head on over there and I'll answer as many as I can!

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Boomer........... YOUR FAMOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grey Dragon

reply to post by nepatitan


Wow that's the second website it's been on. Didn't know about that one, but the first one asked for permission to post on his, and asked if he could send them to a friend for posting. So they had permission. As long as my real name wasn't used!

Originally posted by boomer135
Ok I've been slacking a$$ recently on scanning pictures but a buddy of mine from edwards just told me that "something" is about to be released publically that I "may" have a picture of. I won't post it until I see it on the internet somewhere but it'll tickle your fancy a touch. I have scanned some more pics just need to upload them to the net in the next couple days. stay tuned...

Thats been doing my head in for weeks now! It seems to me that "released publically" usually means the platform is 'going operational' but we all know that past projects have been 'operational' well before their official announcements.

I think that means one of two things, this aircraft is about to be used in action. Or to be retired as its now superceded. But then again perhaps reading into boomers words abit (and with a general F-117 theme in the pics) I cant help but think are we gonna see another variant of the F-117 revealed. The mothballed but can still be seen flying type?

Anybodys thoughts?

Boomer - you and Gariac are the whole reason im on ats. Your research and subject matter is second to none in these forums! Im easily a big fan of your guys work! Keep it up!

Cheers!

Originally posted by Ironside800

Originally posted by boomer135
Ok I've been slacking a$$ recently on scanning pictures but a buddy of mine from edwards just told me that "something" is about to be released publically that I "may" have a picture of. I won't post it until I see it on the internet somewhere but it'll tickle your fancy a touch. I have scanned some more pics just need to upload them to the net in the next couple days. stay tuned...

Thats been doing my head in for weeks now! It seems to me that "released publically" usually means the platform is 'going operational' but we all know that past projects have been 'operational' well before their official announcements.

I think that means one of two things, this aircraft is about to be used in action. Or to be retired as its now superceded. But then again perhaps reading into boomers words abit (and with a general F-117 theme in the pics) I cant help but think are we gonna see another variant of the F-117 revealed. The mothballed but can still be seen flying type?

Anybodys thoughts?

Boomer - you and Gariac are the whole reason im on ats. Your research and subject matter is second to none in these forums! Im easily a big fan of your guys work! Keep it up!

Cheers!

Well i would say Gariac does the real research out in the field. I've just seen some things nobody else on here has seen and stuff I've signed NDA's for. But check out this thread.....www.abovetopsecret.com... started by gariac. It's no secret that UAV's have been in production for years. In the coming days, Ill post something on here thats not necessary publicly released, but it's on the internet. It's kind of like the RATS section where no search engine will bring it up, but I'll show a page of that report that's pretty cool.

On another note, I've been googling it everyday, waiting for a release of some sort. But let's just say it's the type of jet where two security guards flew with us: one guard to keep the pilots in the front of the plane so they don't know what were refueling, and another in the back with me to keep me from taking pics. lol. So we will see. Either way, I'll release the page I was talking about probably tomorrow afternoon.

reply to post by boomer135


Cheers for the link I had seen Gariac's OP but not your replies, i get ur drift i was thinking UAV / UAB all along essentially a varienty of F-117 where u take the pilot out of the aircraft. Perhaps scale it down too?

The first "UAVs" had been flying well before I was born in the form of Remotely-Piloted F-4 Phantoms and Beech King Airs for example. Not too far a stretch i think to take existing airframes and make them unmanned.

Having said that I intensely detest UAV's, I grew up from a young age learning to fly so im always biased to the man in the cockpit!

Im curious, if you had a guard with you to make sure you didnt take pics, how did you "maybe" have a photo of it?
Perhaps thats a story of its own worthy of a few beers!

Cheers!

The suspense is semi-killing me. I keep checking the thread for info.

Regarding the F117, we have better computer programs these days, so the diamond shape in theory doesn't have to be used to be stealthy. The F117 wasn't all that aerodynamic, though I don't know if that is why it was subsonic. Curved surfaces are much easier to make strong since there is no concentration of force at the sharp angles. [There is a reason why tanks under pressure are round ya know.]

So I have no explanation why they were flying the old F117s. You can be sure there will be people screaming bloody hell if they decide to make a QF117 for stealthy target practice.

The news at creech and the aircraft I'm talking about could be related but I have no proof of that. And as we all know a plane can be operational for years before coming into the public eye (rq-170, stealth chopper, etc). So don't hold your breathe on the release of this plane. But....like I said, I have a PDF file that's locked and so I can copy some parts out of it without printing it first then scanning it. But when I do ill post what I know that's public, but not really public, if that makes sense.

m.bbc.co.uk...

Is this related to the news you can't post?

Great thread, reading with interest




Just saying :-

Originally posted by gariac
m.bbc.co.uk...

Is this related to the news you can't post?

I'll say it's close. I started a thread on this already here....www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by boomer135


Gotcha. The UAV spit swapping has been internet chatter for a while. However, these things go dark on the internet and then suddenly out pops the video. Or you never hear about it again.

The Global Hawk is relatively fast, so it doesn't seem to me to be the most critical of a UAV to add in flight refueling. It seems to me you would want to refuel the slower UAVs because they take longer to get to the target. But the Global Hawk is probably the "smartest" UAV (at least among known UAVs), so they probably picked it for the project.

reply to post by RiverRunsFree


Nicely done!

Now lets play name that base...Gariac notice the callsign written on the tanker window...www.youtube.com...


Any takers? Trust me it's not as easy as you think...

reply to post by boomer135


That red tail f-16 should be a clue, but then again, I've never seen such a plane and I can't make out the markings. I'm going to assume it is not a base that hosts F-22s, because that would be too easy. But the F-22 is a plane they like to tether due to er um "issues", so it would be a base near a F-22 base.

I've never been there, but my guess is Hill AFB.

reply to post by gariac


Nope never been to Hill...

Kadena

reply to post by BrianG


Nope...